Two suspected Sonoma County murder suspects were arrested at an apartment in Austin, Texas on Friday. Two years ago, on October 15, 2016, during the commission of a marijuana robbery, three people were shot in a residence off Hwy 116, south of Sebastopol in an unincorporated area of the County. In that shooting, 36-year-old Nathan Proto of Sebastopol and 28-year-old John Mariana of Guerneville died as a result of their injuries. A third person, an unidentified 23-year-old woman, was also shot in the head but survived her injuries.
The investigation that followed led Sheriff’s Office Detectives to two suspects, 30 y/o Robert Lee Randolph Jr. and 28 y/o Maria Teresa Lebron, both from the Philadelphia area. Both suspects had fled the area prior to law enforcement’s arrival and were back on the east coast when their identity and suspected involvement was determined.
Sheriff’s Detectives traveled to the east coast to locate the two, but were unsuccessful in the weeks that followed the homicides. Arrest warrants were obtained for both Randolph and Lebron for the homicides.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office continued working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, US Marshals Service and various law enforcement agencies from several different states to locate and arrest Randolph and Lebron.
On Friday, December 21, 2018 at around 1:30 pm PST, the FBI, working with the Austin Police Department on investigative leads, were led to an apartment in Austin, Texas. The Austin SWAT team served a warrant at the apartment and took Randolph and Lebron into custody without incident. Drugs and at least one weapon were seized in the service of the warrant and both suspects were booked into a local jail in Austin.
Detectives from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s VCI Unit traveled to Austin over the weekend to conduct interviews with both Randolph and Lebron. Randolph and Lebron will remain in the custody of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, pending extradition proceedings to be brought back to Sonoma County where they will face criminal charges in the 2016 murder/robbery.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office remains committed in the identification and apprehension of violent criminals. These pursuits often require the cooperation of agencies across the country, both local law enforcement and federal law enforcement agencies. The Sheriff’s Office is grateful for the assistance and mutual cooperation of the FBI, the US Marshals Service and the Austin Police Department in the location and apprehension of these two very violent suspects.
